If you were a straight male in the 70s and didn't have a crush on Olivia Newton-John, you weren't a straight male in the 70s. But yeah, Xanadu wasn't very watchable. I did like ELO, and I liked the weird Andrews-Sisters-ish/rock-band duet with the Tubes.

What is it with her and creepy news stories? Her ex-boyfriend faked his own death, and now a dude is shot at her house?

Imagine how much cocaine it took for someone to say:"I know - we'll have Gene Kelly and a bunch of young kids on rollerskates. Olivia Newton-John will play a Greek Goddess, and we'll get Electric Light Orchestra to do the soundtrack!"

FrancoFile:Imagine how much cocaine it took for someone to say:"I know - we'll have Gene Kelly and a bunch of young kids on rollerskates. Olivia Newton-John will play a Greek Goddess, and we'll get Electric Light Orchestra to do the soundtrack!"

oh wow, talk about a "plate of shrimp" moment - Xanadu was just on over the weekend (MPlex, I think?) and my wife and I are both children of the late 70's / 80's so I had to stop on it for a bit. We both agreed that apparently all the missing coke in LA from the late 70's must have been found in a sound studio and voila - Xanadu.

Also, I never put it together until watching part of it this time that the main guy (besides Gene Kelly) was Swan from The Warriors. I guess I must have known this, but repressed it for some reason.

Much like "The Phantom Menace," somebody with a deft editing touch could probably take what's there, cut 35% out of it, and come out with a fairly decent movie.

The premise of "muse inspires old guy and young guy to collaborate on a big dream project for both of them" is a workable logline, and Kelly does a pretty good job with his role, despite the terrible dialogue he's given. ONJ isn't a very good actress -- it would've been better to write her up as a sort of aloof and flighty object of admiration like Albert Brooks did with Sharon Stone, rather than having her fall in love too. (Really? A muse that's been doing this for thousands of years is going to fall for this particular schlub?) Cut the story down to Warriors-guy's pursuit of his dream and Kelly's wistfulness about the dreams he had in the past. Cut out some of the more pointless flamboyance like the "All Over the World" bit and a lot of the opening-night nonsense, trim out the campiest of the special effects, and you've got a decent movie about a lady inspiring two guys to strive to make something big happen.

Uzzah:Much like "The Phantom Menace," somebody with a deft editing touch could probably take what's there, cut 35% out of it, and come out with a fairly decent movie.

The premise of "muse inspires old guy and young guy to collaborate on a big dream project for both of them" is a workable logline, and Kelly does a pretty good job with his role, despite the terrible dialogue he's given. ONJ isn't a very good actress -- it would've been better to write her up as a sort of aloof and flighty object of admiration like Albert Brooks did with Sharon Stone, rather than having her fall in love too. (Really? A muse that's been doing this for thousands of years is going to fall for this particular schlub?) Cut the story down to Warriors-guy's pursuit of his dream and Kelly's wistfulness about the dreams he had in the past. Cut out some of the more pointless flamboyance like the "All Over the World" bit and a lot of the opening-night nonsense, trim out the campiest of the special effects, and you've got a decent movie about a lady inspiring two guys to strive to make something big happen.

Next time I get the urge to fire a director in post I'm going to give you a call.

Forlorne Greene:If you were a straight male in the 70s and didn't have a crush on Olivia Newton-John, you weren't a straight male in the 70s. But yeah, Xanadu wasn't very watchable. I did like ELO, and I liked the weird Andrews-Sisters-ish/rock-band duet with the Tubes. What is it with her and creepy news stories? Her ex-boyfriend faked his own death, and now a dude is shot at her house?

Yup, this chick sure has had some strange stuff happen to the men in her life. The current Mr. Olivia Newton -John sells natural herb nutritional/remediesCall me cynical but I don't see that ending well.

Forlorne Greene:If you were a straight male in the 70s and didn't have a crush on Olivia Newton-John, you weren't a straight male in the 70s. But yeah, Xanadu wasn't very watchable. I did like ELO, and I liked the weird Andrews-Sisters-ish/rock-band duet with the Tubes.

What is it with her and creepy news stories? Her ex-boyfriend faked his own death, and now a dude is shot at her house?

I watched Xanadu about 10 times in the theater. My folks worked during the weekend and I would walk down to the local theater nearby because I'd be bored.I was just a kid but I swore she was singing Magic to me ad me only. Probably because a couple of times I was the only one in the theater.

Also, didn't her boyfriend die or something strange? Like disappear?Maybe I was better off not dating her.

Forlorne Greene:If you were a straight male in the 70s and didn't have a crush on Olivia Newton-John, you weren't a straight male in the 70s. But yeah, Xanadu wasn't very watchable. I did like ELO, and I liked the weird Andrews-Sisters-ish/rock-band duet with the Tubes.

What is it with her and creepy news stories? Her ex-boyfriend faked his own death, and now a dude is shot at her house?

He didn't fake anything, he basically disappeared and asked the Fibbies notto tell anyone where he is.

Forlorne Greene:If you were a straight male in the 70s and didn't have a crush on Olivia Newton-John, you weren't a straight male in the 70s. But yeah, Xanadu wasn't very watchable. I did like ELO, and I liked the weird Andrews-Sisters-ish/rock-band duet with the Tubes.

What is it with her and creepy news stories? Her ex-boyfriend faked his own death, and now a dude is shot at her house?

Dude didn't fake anything. He ran as far away as he could, and when the FBI found him living in Mexico he told them not to tell her where he is.

you are a puppet:Published: August 19, 2013 at 3:52 PM ETJUPITER, Fla. - Authorities say a man has been found dead from a gunshot wound inside a South Florida home owned by singer Olivia Newton-John and her husband.

early 80's, college - frat brothers out on all night beer bash, walk to the old movie theater a block away and go into the matinee showing of Xanadu (we were expecting something different), but what the hell we were drunk.

Pulled an MST3K, which royally pissed off the only other people in the entire theater - a group of about 50 12-14 yr old girls taking this movie seriously.

The usher (who I swear the pimply faced teenager shown working every menial job in Springfield in the Simpsons was based on) shows up and asks us to be quiet. He might as well asked the tide to stop rolling in. Let me just say that hungover and watching roller disco on the big screen is not a good combination, I still start to dry heave a bit at even the thought of that movie.

skantea:Forlorne Greene: If you were a straight male in the 70s and didn't have a crush on Olivia Newton-John, you weren't a straight male in the 70s. But yeah, Xanadu wasn't very watchable. I did like ELO, and I liked the weird Andrews-Sisters-ish/rock-band duet with the Tubes.

What is it with her and creepy news stories? Her ex-boyfriend faked his own death, and now a dude is shot at her house?

I see your Newton-John, and raise you one Linda Carter:[1.bp.blogspot.com image 410x640]

Fun Fact: she's part Mexican. Mexican, Spanish, Irish, English, to be exact. And I found this quote on her Wikipedia page:

"I never meant to be a sexual object for anyone but my husband. I never thought a picture of my body would be tacked up in men's bathrooms. I hate men looking at me and thinking what they think. And I know what they think. They write and tell me."

I think I was largely confused by the movie, but was impressed by the special effects. But I did listen to soundtrack on cassette over and over and over again. Since then, I've pretty much been a 'sound track' guy.